Knossos

Knossos, also spelled Cnossus, city in ancient Crete, capital of the legendary king Minos, and the principal centre of the Minoan, the earliest of the Aegean civilizations (seeMinoan civilization). The site of Knossos stands on a knoll between the confluence of two streams and is located about 5 miles (8 km) inland from Crete’s northern coast. Excavations were begun at Knossos under Sir Arthur Evans in 1900 and revealed a palace and surrounding buildings that were the centre of a sophisticated Bronze Ageculture that dominated the Aegean between about 1600 and 1400 bc.

Portion of the reconstructed Minoan palace, Knossos, Crete, Greece.

Peterak

The first human inhabitants of Knossos probably came there from Anatolia in the 7th millennium bc and established an agricultural society based on wheat and livestock raising. At the beginning of the Early Minoan period (3000–2000 bc) they began using bronze and making glazed pottery, engraved seals, and gold jewelry. A hieroglyphic script was invented, and trade with the Egyptians was undertaken. The first palace at Knossos was built at the beginning of the Middle Minoan period (2000–1580 bc). It consisted of isolated structures built around a rectangular court. Knossos produced fine polychrome pottery on a black glazed ground during this period. About 1720 bc a destructive earthquake leveled most of Knossos. The palace was rebuilt, this time with extensive colonnades and flights of stairs connecting the different buildings on the hilly site. The remains of this palace occupy the excavated site in the present day. The administrative and ceremonial quarters of the palace were on the west side of the central court, and the throne room in this area still contains the gypsum chair in which sat the kings of Knossos. This area of the palace also had long narrow basement rooms that served as storage magazines for wheat, oil, and treasure. Workshops were located on the northeast side of the central court, while residences were situated in the southeastern section. An elaborate system of drains, conduits, and pipes provided water and sanitation for the palace, and the whole urban complex was connected to other Cretan towns and ports by paved roads. The art of Minoan fresco painting reached its zenith at this time, with scenes of dancing, sports, and dolphins done in a naturalistic style. The Minoans also replaced their hieroglyphic script with a linear script known as Linear A.

About 1580 bc Minoan culture and influence began to be extended to mainland Greece, where it was further developed and emerged as the culture known as Mycenaean. The Mycenaeans, in turn, achieved control over Knossos sometime in the 15th century bc; the Linear A script was replaced by another script, Linear B, which is identical to that used at Mycenae and is most generally deemed the prototype of Greek. Detailed administrative records in Linear B found at Knossos indicate that at this time the city’s Mycenaean rulers controlled much of central and western Crete.

Some time after about 1400 bc, what Evans called the “Last Palace” of Knossos was destroyed by a fire of uncertain origin, and fires destroyed many other Cretan settlements at this time. Knossos was reduced henceforth to the status of a mere town, and the political focus of the Aegean world shifted to Mycenae on the Greek mainland. Knossos continued to be inhabited through the subsequent centuries, though on a much-reduced scale.

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Bronze Age civilization of Crete that flourished from about 3000 bc to about 1100 bc. Its name derives from Minos, either a dynastic title or the name of a particular ruler of Crete who has a place in Greek legend.

The great maritime civilization of Crete crystallized around palaces such as those at Knossos, Phaestus, Ayía Triáda, Mallia, and Tylissos. The immensely important Palace of Minos at Knossos, excavated and reconstructed early in the 20th century by Sir Arthur Evans, offers evidence of unbroken architectural and artistic development from Neolithic beginnings, culminating in a...

The greatest and most prosperous years were from 1750 to 1400 bce; this was the time of the building of the great palaces, notably the complex at Knossos, from where the remains of coloured frescoes, painted vases, and sculpture in marble, terra-cotta, and coloured ceramics have been excavated. Even finer and more complete frescoes have been preserved from the excavations of the Minoan city...